“I’m not sitting on your leg at work.”
“I want you to sit on my leg while I feed ya a cream stick,” he says as he pulls a donut out. “Come on now.”
“Why are you making this so weird?” I ask as I walk over.
“How so? My thighs are craving your buns.”
I hold my hand out, expecting him to put the donut into it, but he kisses my fingers instead. His hazel eyes flick up to meet mine as he kisses each fingertip in turn.
“Buns first, then donut.”
“Or you could just let me have the donut because you love me.”
Liam smiles at me and it’s definitely not as innocent as he’s pretending it is. “Today, I was struck with great sadness that will only be fixed by you drawing close to me.”
“Seriously?” I ask. For someone “stricken by great sadness,” he sure looks like he still wants to be devious.
“Very seriously.”
I sigh but find myself walking over and sitting on his lap. He’s like Lucille. The moment I touch him, he forgets all about his woes, and if he could purr, he’d be purring.
“You’re just the best human ever created. How does it feel to be better than everyone?” he inquires.
“It feels like you’re exaggerating to an extreme.”
Liam picks up a donut and aims it toward my mouth. So of course I have my mouth wide open, donut being stuffed in it, ass on his lap as Michaels steps in.
Quickly, I snatch up the donut with my face a bit on fire. “I’m so sorry” is what I would have said if I didn’t have my mouth full of donut. Instead, it comes out mumbled and I end up smearing frosting across my face that Liam swipes with his finger and licks while his boss watches because he’s a maniac.
Michaels is still awkwardly standing there as I manage to choke the bite down.
“It’s the only way he would give me a donut and I really wanted the donut,” I whisper.
“A call just came in from Kenny Marsh. His wife, Liz… is missing. He said she told him that she was going to take the dog out and promised not to leave the property, but when he got home, she was gone.”
“I see,” Liam says. “And for documentation purposes, where might this house be?”
“You’re not going.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to go. I was just wondering about the address because I was going to spend the whole day makingChristmas cards since I’m not allowed to do anything else and thought my enemy might enjoy one. A simple ‘Ho, ho, ho, are you Rudolph because your nose is going to be red when I’m done with you.’ Or what about… ‘I’m Santa because I’m here to sleigh.’ Those aren’t good enough… see why I need it now? I obviously need time to work on my threats… I mean my Christmas card.”
“You’re not going,” Michaels repeats. “I literally came in here to make sure you were aware that you’re not going.”
“I hear ya. I hear ya.” Liam picks up his phone. “Oh no… Matthew wants to know the location, so I was going to tell him.”
“Nope. Be good. Actually, why don’t you give me your car keys?”
“They’re actually Gabriel’s, but you can have them.” Liam hands them over without hesitation, which confuses Michaelsandme. Now that Michaels has them, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with them.
“There you go. Enjoy. Gabriel, I think I remember what that tattoo looked like,” he says as he draws a circle and starts putting some lines in the center.
Michaels, seemingly pleased by the lack of Liam trying harder, leaves the room.
“Is that a flower in the middle?” I ask.
“Fuck if I know. I’m not an artist. Can you take this down to Jesse and ask if he’s seen anything like it? This note as well,” he says as he writes a note before folding it neatly and handing both papers to me. “I’ll be down there in a sec.”
“Of course. But can you tell me why this matters? Like… do you think it’s somehow attached to her case? If so, it means whoever is fucking with her is related to something she’s been involved in since she was sixteen.”